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What's the time? It's time to GET REAL—with the special Documentary Film Conference edition of Documentary magazine! It's a brand new season—for football fans, television addicts, awards fanatics, election enthusiasts and fashion mavens—and just as they're readying the runways in Milan and Paris, we at IDA are rolling out our brand new look this fall. And that makeover includes Documentary magazine-are you for a brand new beat? In that spirit of new, we celebrate one of the strongest signals of change coming out of IDA: GETTING REAL: Documentary Film Conference 2014, which runs September 30

When filmmakers convene this fall at the GETTING REAL Documentary Film Conference, presented by IDA and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, conference producer Allison Berg hopes attendees discover valuable information through the roundtables, sessions, working groups, talks and salons planned for the three-day event. But even more than filmmakers finding solutions, she hopes they find each other. "It's about getting people together," Berg says. "From the new voices we have in the field who feel they may not have had a voice, to the more established who see what the landscape is and

Making a documentary film often requires years of effort, with no certainty of profit upon completion. With the abundance of affordable technology and proliferation of online platforms, anyone can make and share a film, so funding and distribution are more competitive than ever. What's a filmmaker to do? Is a "career" in documentary film even possible? If so, do any proven strategies exist to support the leap from aspirant to professional? The 2014 GETTING REAL Documentary Film Conference will give the community an opportunity to explore these questions together, sharing experiences and

An interview with IDA's Michael Lumpkin and Ken Jacobson

'Levitated Mass' opens September in Los Angeles, through First Run Features.

The 2014 Fall granting cycle is full of opportunities! Several of the major players like NEH, ITVS and Tribeca are open for submissions, offering substantial amounts of funding to documentary filmmakers. Any filmmaker would be happy to work with these esteemed organizations, which is why it’s important to remember that each grant is also quite competitive. Be sure to do your homework to find out if a particular grant is right for your film. If grants are a large part of your fundraising strategy, you might think about branching out from documentary-specific grants to look toward subject

The 38th annual Festival des Films du Monde (Montreal World Film Festival) took place this year from August 21 to September 1 in Canada's second largest city. It offers, as festival president Serge Losique writes in the catalogue, "a rich program based on cultural diversity, innovation, independence and creativity...Without the Montreal World Film Festival and its annual selection of some 400 films from 80 countries, the Montreal film landscape would be drastically reduced." There's certainly no disputing this is a problem plaguing many cities, and is why film festivals are more culturally

'Through a Lens Darkly' opens August 27 through First Run Features.

Dear Readers: As we go to press, we are looking at an über-confluence of happenings in the digital space that could be quite consequential to the documentary community.With the Federal Communications Commission having effectively neutralized net neutrality by voting to maintain an extra toll lane for those willing to pay more for better, faster Internet service, the heady days of a free and open Internet for all might be waning—although the American people have 120 days to weigh in its concerns with the FCC. One of more vocal proponents of net neutrality, Netflix, has been crossing swords with

Dawn Porter had a couple of careers before she landed in documentary filmmaking-where she feels most at home. She was an attorney for BakerHostetler, where she learned the true meaning of rigorous thought and how to pay attention to detail. But she felt she was missing out on creative opportunities in that world, so she moved on to work in television, for ABC News and A&E Television Networks. There, her creativity flourished a bit more, and she was also able to learn a lot about the business of making media. "I learned that it doesn't matter if you have the most brilliant project in the world